Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Eterna Character Insights and Signed Book Giveaways!

Hello Dear Readers!

We’ve a month to go until the mass-market edition of THE ETERNA FILES, book 1 in my current Gaslamp Fantasy trilogy with Tor Books,
releases into the wild, seen here, replete with new parasol and spiffy review
quote:

I am an extremely character-driven storyteller and none so
much as in THE ETERNA FILES, a large cast novel that posits two “X-Files-ish”
departments in London and New York in 1882 on a perilous crash-course while
each office seeks immortality on behalf of their respective governments. What
these departments get instead is a ghostly, ghastly window into hell while
demons stalk their cities.

Because my work is so character-driven, I wanted to further
invest in my characters in this series by allowing you, dear readers, to have
some questions answered. I’ve collected a few questions via my online platforms
and my ETERNA characters will be answering them all month, here and on various
guest posts as my characters haunt the net. AND you see I’ll be hosting several
giveaways for signed copies of this new- and very affordable I might add-mass-market edition. I hope that those who are already fans of THE ETERNA FILES
will re-engage with my characters and those who are new to my series will find
themselves intrigued and we’ll all be eagerly on board for book two, ETERNA AND OMEGA, when it releases this August!

We’re starting off these character insights with a question
from one of my most thoughtful and considered readers, Gemma L, who asks this
stunning question of my character Louis:

“In death, or at least the ghost state you are in, do you
find there is the same propulsion toward purpose and growth that one feels in
life?”

Louis Dupris is a young man who came to The Eterna Commission
in 1880, up from New Orleans, with a vision of mixing scientific discovery with
what he finds sacred in his Vodoun belief system. THE ETERNA FILES opens its
first chapters with a great tragedy, and Louis finds himself addressing his
work from the other side of the veil… He answers the question thusly:

Louis:

“I appreciate the gravity and weight of this important
query. I was always driven in life, I find myself no different in death,
however much like laws of physics, I find myself unable to gain as much
traction. I mean this both literally and figuratively, as my ghostly feet do
not touch the earth anymore, I float along like a feather in swirling wind. I
do not have the same ability to keep a razor-sharp focus as I once did. But I
yearn for the truth, to find out what happened to me, why our work brought out
demonic presences who seemed threatened by what our commission created in that
dim, isolated lab.

The thirst for answers is as vital to me as my love my
darling Clara Templeton, muse of my work, the mind behind The Eterna Commision,
fraught as it may have been. I love her perhaps more keenly in death. Ghosts
who remain tethered to their work, to earth, to life, to love, I suppose by
nature are pining beings. I am certainly hungry. Empty. Starving for details,
action and resolution. And yet because of this quest I am not a husk, I am not
without life, it’s just that life has changed so much. I am growing accustomed
to a thought taking longer to complete, death causing a prolonged state of
pensive meditation. I have to force myself to appear to my brother, to Clara,
to any colleague I might have spiritual access to, with the full awareness that
their clock is in minutes and hours while my presence here in this grey between
could be eternal. Time here is different. Temperature, weight and all physical
properties are different. But my heart is unchanged and if there is one thing
to celebrate about this change of state and status, is that I have access to a
new knowledge, there are things I can discern in this space between life and
death I could not see, nor hear nor grasp in corporeal life. This is what will
keep my feet as close to the ground as possible as I run towards my destiny.”

Thank you, my dear Louis, thank you Gemma for the question,
and thank you, dear readers, for coming to play with us. Have more questions
for my characters, Louis or any of my 19th century characters? All
my worlds are parallel worlds, so characters from my Strangely Beautiful as
well as Magic Most Foul novels appear in THE ETERNA FILES series! If you’ve a question, please leave a comment
below and my characters will get back to you! Want to keep posted on my books right from the source? Tor Books has created an email list for my readers, it just takes one second to sign up so please do, you'll get first look at new content, first access to announcements, first chance at sales on my books and more!

This month I'll also be answering questions for:

Scandalous WomenThe Gothic LibraryHistorical Non-Fiction Author Michelle L. HamiltonSo stay tuned for those links! And now... Giveaways! Via Rafflecopter below, win one of three signed copies of the mass-market edition of THE ETERNA FILES and a signed book plate for the upcoming sequel ETERNA & OMEGA! US only please, thanks!

ETERNA AND OMEGA (Eterna Files 2)

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About Me

Actress, playwright and award winning, Barnes & Noble bestselling author of the STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL, the MAGIC MOST FOUL and the ETERNA FILES series of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels for adults and teens. Her books have been translated into many languages and chosen for multiple book club editions. Four time Prism Award winner for excellence in her genre. Actress (Member AEA, SAG-AFTRA), lifelong Perky Goth, vegetarian, devotee of all things 19th century, owner of more corsets than is sensible, loves nothing more than a good ghost story (she works for Boroughs of the Dead tour company) and a long stroll through a beautiful graveyard. Passionate advocate of Gothic Literature at conventions, symposiums and schools around the country. A proud member of performer unions AEA and SAG-AFTRA, she works often in film and television on shows such as Boardwalk Empire.
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"Leanna Renee Hieber rules with an iron fist and a tiny black hat." - author Sam Sykes

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